Witness of Hell
by VidelNC
Summary: YAOI! When Riku's parents died, two men in black suits paid him a visit that would forever change his life. Sora who had moved away, will come back to Destiny Islands to find his friend gone. The start of a search for friendship, forgiveness and love.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:**

**Videlnc: **"Do you honestly think I'd be writing fanfiction of Kingdom Hearts if it was my own creation?"

**Riku: **"Nah, you're not that hopeless."

**Videlnc: "**Eh…right"

**Riku: **"So yeah, don't sue her, because she's…"

**Sora: **"Poooooooooooooooooor"

**Videlnc: **"And there's another reason why I couldn't _possibly_ be the owner of Kingdom Hearts"

**Riku: **"Because then she would have been…"

**Sora: **"Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiich"

**Videlnc: **"Exactly, and I still wouldn't be writing fanfiction about it."

**Riku: **"So, to make it short…"

**Sora: **"She doesn't own Kingdom Hearts…"

**Riku: **"So don't sue her."

**Videlnc: **"Because then I wouldn't be writing fanfiction about Kingdom Hearts anymore."

**Sora: **"So there!"

**Riku: **"Yah!"

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**Author's Notes:**

**Firstly:** This is a **YAOI** story, that means **male/male** pairings. If you're not comfortable with it, please leave and use your time for something you see fit. Again I tell you: It's **gay – orientated**. Do you understand? It's **_male LOVES male_**! I hope I made that clear to you. So don't you dare flame me about it, because then I would just see you as an illiterate retard.

**Secondly:** If you like **Kairi**, you might be a little mad at me while reading this story. I don't actually bash her, but when she does appear, she will **NOT **be** a nice person**. So yeah. So don't you dare flame me about it either, I warned you.

**Thirdly:** It's an **AU** (Alternate Universe, for those who don't know). I will use some of the same locations as in Kingdom Hearts, but this story has nothing, whatsoever, to do with the game. And that's a third reason you don't have to dare flame me about. (If you do, I'd only advise you to read the author's notes next time, it might contain some vital information about the fic)

And now for all of you who are still interested in reading this story: It will be mainly about Sora/Riku. I will portray Sora a little differently, he will be the more dominant male in this story and not Riku. Also there will be some other pairings in the future, but that's for later. This story will also contain drugs, swearing, pain, sadness, and so on. It will be a dark dramatic ansty romance fic.

So that's about it. I hope you'll enjoy it!

**Riku & Sora:** review!

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**Riku's POV**

It was about 11 o' clock in the evening when they called me. I went down to the hospital as fast as I could driving full speed. But when I arrived they said there was nothing they could do.

"_Your mother died in the accident. Your father was still alive when we found him, we brought him here as quick as possible, but he suffered from severe internal bleeding. He passed away 10 minutes ago. I'm sorry." _

Thinking back on it a few hours later I realized how easy they had made it sound and how easily I had taken it. I hadn't shown any emotion what so ever and just accepted it, as though it was the most normal situation in the world.

Sighing I stood up and walked towards the kitchen to grab a glass of water. It was about 5 o' clock in the morning and I hadn't called anyone yet. I had no real family, both my parents were only children, and my grandparents had all died a few years ago. I didn't have the need to call my friends either.

Friends…that word makes you think. Yes I have a few, well actually it would be better to call them pals instead of friends. There's Tidus and Selphie they're an item now. And then there's Kairi 'Miss popular', she barely spoke to me anymore. Waka was the only one of my 'old' friends with whom I regularly had contact.

And then there's Sora… He moved away from the Islands 3 years ago, it wasn't his fault though. His father had found a new and better job back at Travers Town, and so he had taken his wife and son with him. Sora and I promised to keep in contact by writing letters or emails and stuff. But to my disappointment he didn't have a computer back there and well the writing letters stuff kinda disappeared over time too because he never wrote me back. So I hadn't heard from him in 3 years now. He probably had new and better friends anyway.

I finished my glass of water and decided to go to bed for at least a few hours of sleep. Next day would be a busy day after all, I was going to arrange a funeral. Sighing I went to my room and crawled in my bed, not bothering to change into my pyjamas. I fell a sleep immediately.

_**Three days later**_

"We're so sorry, Riku. If there's anything we can do just call us, okay?" Selphie and Tidus were nice people, really, but I just didn't want to depend on them.

I had arranged a small funeral in honour of my parents and only invited those few people and friends of the islands my parents and I had contact with. To my amazement I had even written an invitation to Sora and his parents, but I hadn't expected them to show up anyway. Selphie, Tidus, Wakka and even Kairi had all stood by my side during the ceremony, ready to comfort me if needed…but I hadn't shred a tear since my parents died. I didn't know how to cry.

When I was back at home I locked off all the doors and went straight to bed. I couldn't sleep though, I was awake during the entire night pondering on what I was going to do now, how I was going to live my life. I hadn't even finished school yet! I was 18 and in my last year of high school. Normally I would have gone to Traverse Town or some place else next year to go to university, but now that wouldn't be an option anymore simply because I had no money. I was to old for an orphanage and so if I wanted to survive I'd have to go and find a job to combine with school.

I had never had a job before…really I'd always been a spoiled child. That made it even harder right now. Around 3 o' clock in the morning I had finally drifted away in a memory filled sleep.

'_Riku! Riiiiiiiku!' When I looked behind me I saw a 9 year old Sora running towards me holding a star shaped fruit. I started smiling broadly and walked over to the little boy. Though I was only a year older, I reached at least a head higher than him, making me look more dominant and strong. Sora stopped right in front of me and stuck out his hand showing me the star shaped fruit. _

'_Look! It's a paopu Riku! Remember last time when your mom told us about the legend how it made two people stay together forever?' I nodded and looked at it. 'Well, lets share one Riku, then we'll be friends forever!' I looked at him showing a genuine smile and took the Paopu, carefully breaking it into two pieces I gave one half to him and kept the other one for myself. _

'RIIIIIIIIIIIING!'

I woke up in shock to the sound of the doorbell. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes I looked over to the alarmclock and saw it was 8 o' clock in the morning. I heard the doorbell ring again and very irritated by now, I quickly jumped out of bed and ran towards the front door. When I opened it I saw two men in black suits. One of them was wearing pitch black sunglasses and had an emotionless expression. The other was wearing a black hat and was holding a black suitcase.

"Are you Mr. Riku Takanari?" The man with the suitcase asked. I just nodded. "Can we come in? We need to talk to you." Giving both men a suspicious look I eventually stepped aside allowing them to enter. I closed the door behind us and lead them into the living room, motioning for them to sit down on one the coaches.

"First of all we want to offer our condolence, we're very sorry for what happened. But I'm afraid we have some bad news. You may not now of this, but your parents have some great debts with the banks. They had once owned a company of their own but it went bankrupt. Since then they have been paying of their debts to the banks but they still need to pay 200.000 dollars now. I assume you're still going to school?"

I looked at them in shock. My parents had never mentioned anything of this! Yes, I knew they had a company once, but they never told my it went bankrupt. And why was the other man not talking? What was going on?

"Yes" I answered the man simply.

The man who had done all the talking turned to his partner and they had a silent conversation. The man with the glasses nodded and started taking notes while the other man turned his

attention back towards me.

"Do you have any relatives? Anyone you know you could stay with?" He asked. And I shook my head. I had no family and well, my friends…I couldn't allow myself to depend on them.

The man sighed a little but continued. "So, you're still going to school, don't have any relatives or friends to stay with..." He paused a few moments to think "Do you have a job?"

"No, but I was gonna look for one today" I answered sitting down in a coach opposite of them. The two men started whispering again and finally they turned back to me.

"Good. Look, we need to have the money your parents owe the banks. But since you can't pay it off we're going to confiscate this house and all your parents possessions…"

"What?" I interrupted the man, giving him an expression of disbelief and utter shock.

"No wait, let me finish. We're going to give you two weeks to find a job and a place to live at. Once you have that we'll contact you again and confiscate this property. I'm really sorry we have to do this, but it's our job."

I sat there for a while letting the entire situation sink in and thought about my future, which was now completely ruined.

"Wait…so my parents haven't got any money on the banks left? Not even something to get me started?" I asked hopefully. But the man shook his head in sad understanding.

It didn't take me long to accept my downfall and I finally sighed in defeat. Not much later when the two men left I went to the kitchen and grabbed myself a glass of fresh water and began pondering about the whole ordeal. Why should I even try to find a job, I was going to loose this house anyway. If my parents hadn't gone out that day, they wouldn't have been caught up in an accident and everything would still be fine! But no…they so deliberately wanted to go to the movies that evening and the worst thing was that I even encouraged them…I encouraged them to go so I could have an evening for my own. I've always been selfish.

"This is all my fault…" I hissed not really wanting to speak out loud at all. "But why should it be my fault? They're the ones who went! They're the ones that were driving, not I. So it's not my fault…

"It's their fault!" I said very determindly. "They did this to me…"

That night I did the one thing I never expected ever doing, I went over to Kairi. She let me in the house and listened to me all night long. I told her everything. That my house was going to be taken away from me, that I had to find a job and a place to live, that I had nothing left in the whole world and that I missed my once best friend. That night she comforted me and she told me not to think of Sora anymore, she told me to let him go because that's what he had done to us.

It wasn't until 4 o' clock in the morning that I decided to go back home. Kairi was already asleep so I silently went out by the backdoor. I hopped over the white fence surrounding her parents beautiful house and headed down the street. But instead of turning left to go to my house I kept following the street as I looked down towards my feet. I never looked back….

_**Three years later**_

**Sora's POV**

The moment I stepped off the ferry, my memories of times past flooded through my head. It had been 6 years since I left Destiny Islands and being able to walk on these long longed for docks of the main harbour of the Islands again, felt so good! The moment I finished cooking school I decided to move back to the Islands to open a little restaurant, meet old friends and generally pick up my old life again. Good god I'd missed it so much! But there was one person I was really longing to see again… My parents had tried everything to prevent me from coming back, but I just had to. As things were, I couldn't live in Traverse Town anymore. I had no real friends there, I went to a good but non – enjoyable boarding school for cooks and I was a loner. These past few years where like hell, but it was the thought of being able to come back here, that kept me going. And now here I was, standing on these docks with two giant suitcases in my hands, a backpack on my back and the biggest smile anyone could muster.

I decided to rent a room in the little hotel downtown to drop off my stuff so I could go and take a look around for a while. Maybe even visit some old friends. Gods, I had missed them all so much…

It surprised me that even after those six long years I had gone away, the main island we lived on hadn't changed that much. There were still all those little shops and places me and my friends used to visit when we were younger. I immediately fell in love with the place again.

Then there it was, my house, or at least the building I used to call home. It was repainted but other than that it still looked the same. But my old home didn't interest me so much, it was the house beside it that made me feel so nauseating but thrilled at the same time. It was Riku's…

As I walked through the front garden I realised it looked like a mess. In fact, the entire house was a total mess as well. My happy face suddenly twisted into a face of disbelief. What had happened to that once beautiful white house? The white paint was beginning to peal off, and the bare wood beneath it was rotting.

As I neared the front door, I had a tight feeling in my stomach. I saw the windows were full of dust and overly sticky. It looked like they hadn't been cleaned for a long time. I don't know why, maybe out of hope, but I knocked on the door. Once…twice, even three times before I gave into realising that there was no one living in this house anymore.

I walked down the street towards Kairi's house, and all sorts of thoughts were running through my head. 'Where was Riku? Had his parents and him moved as well? If so, why hadn't he written to me about it? At least then I could have known why he never answered my letters…'

I knocked on the door, and Kairi's mother opened it, an amazed expression upon her face.

"My God, Sora! It's been such a long time since I've seen you! How are you doing? Look at you, you've grown into such a fine and handsome boy! The girls must be swarming around you…"

I just looked at her while she talked on and on, my smile never fading. It was typical, this woman, once she began babbling no one could interrupt her. It was better to just let yourself go with the flow, her babbling would eventually die out.

"Oooh! I bet you're here to see Kairi. You guys must have a lot of catching up to do."

And before I could answer, she turned around and yelled for Kairi to come down. After closing my mouth, without having spoken, she ushered me to come in. Walking into the hallway I saw Kairi standing on top of the stairs looking down at me.

'Wow' That was the only thought that came to my mind. She had grown into a total babe. Well maybe not a 'babe' in the sense of the word, but she was beautiful nonetheless. She didn't look at all what she looked like when I had last seen her. Her hair was longer now, still the same reddish colour, but the hairdo was much better. Also her body had developed into a nice curved temple of femininity. Yes, she was very admirable.

"Sora?" Her soft voice brought me back to reality and made me blink a few times before I smiled up to her.

"Yup, the one and only" I answered happily.

"You're….back! I can't believe it…you really _are_ back, aren't you?" She was walking down the stairs now, stopping right in front of me with a glint of hope in her eyes.

"Yes, I am." With those three simple words said, she flung into my arms, embracing me as hard as she could.

"I missed you so much, Sora! If only you knew!"

Was she crying? Yes she most definitely was, because I heard her sniffle in my neck, and her curved body shivered in my arms as she dug her fingers into my shirt to embrace me even tighter. I rubbed her back and tried to make her calm down.

"Please don't cry, if I'm saddening you with my return, please tell me and I'll leave immediately." I was joking. We both knew I was, because I heard her chuckling.

"These are tears of joy, silly!" she smiled pushing me away.

We talked the entire evening, catching up on each other's lives, and telling her of my plan to open a restaurant here on Destiny Islands. But late that evening, after her parents had gone to bed and we were still sitting in the comfy sofa's in their living room, her expression changed into a serious frown.

"I'm sure, I wasn't the first person on your visiting list though…" she said silently, waiting patiently for my answer.

I looked down at my hands resting in my lap, as I played with a little piece of paper, rolling and unrolling it.

"No…" I sighed, I had never lost the thought of Riku's desolated house the entire evening, and was now, in fact, afraid to hear the very reason why it came to be in such a state "You're right, I went to see Riku first. He wasn't there."

She laughed sadly. And I looked up at her.

"Where is he, Kairi?"

"You really don't know what happened, do you?" She asked mockingly. Wait, was she mad?

Why would she be mad at me?

I shook my head slowly. "No, I…I don't know a thing."

She turned her head looking me straight into the eyes as she grabbed hold of my hands.

"Well, I'm afraid I have some bad news."

'Oh no, he's dead! I can just tell by the look in her eyes. And…oooh God, that's why she's mad, because she thinks I knew somehow but still didn't come to his funeral. And that's why his parents moved away without giving me any notice of it. I hate my life, I hate myself!'

My eyes were starting to water, and I had to blink to prevent the tears from falling. But Kairi continued her story.

"Three years ago Riku's parents had a serious car accident and they died the very evening, leaving Riku behind…"

"What?" I interrupted her, but a look of relief definitely visible on my face, making Kairi frown for a moment.

"Yes, sadly enough. But Riku was left behind, still going to school and having no job to support himself."

"Yeah, but knowing Riku, he would be very able to support himself without any troubles. I mean, his parents were away on business trips so often. He was used to being alone and taking care of himself." I talked reassuring the both of us.

"Well yes, normally. But sadly enough this wasn't the end of it. The day after the funeral two men from the banks paid him a visit telling him his parents had a large debt with the banks and so they had come to take away his home…"

"_Excuse_ me?" I asked disbelievingly.

"I know, that same evening he came to me telling me everything about it. But I had fallen a sleep and the next morning he was gone."

"Where to? He did tell you, didn't he?" I hoped…I could only hope.

"He didn't tell me…"

"Bu…"

"No, wait. Let me finish, Sora. He did leave me a letter, telling me he was leaving Destiny Islands to start a new life somewhere else. He also wrote he was going to look for someone." She said rubbing my hand with her fingers.

"Do you still have that letter?"

"No. But my only guess is that that 'someone' he's looking for, is _you_, Sora." She looked me in the eyes. I nodded in understanding.

"So that means he's gone to Travers Town" I frowned, thinking to myself.

'Three years…and I hadn't seen him once there. That's weird. I knew Traverse Town by heart…at least the upper part of town, where the normal people live. Then that means he must have moved to the lower part of town…not that there weren't any rich or normal people down there, it was just the dark side of the town with all kinds of dark things happening there. I remember people from my side of town calling it: 'The underworld'.

I shivered. And Kairi saw it.

"Is something wrong?" A look of worry in her eyes.

"Ooh Kairi…" I sighed and she tensed. "I don't have a good feeling about this. You know Traverse Town exists out of two very different parts. First there's Upper Town where normal people with families like you and I live, then there's also Lower Town. There's mostly poor and weird people living down there. I'm afraid he might be there…"

Kairi didn't say anything she just looked down and shook her head.

"I'm going back Kairi. I'm going back to Travers Town to search for Riku." I said determinedly.

"No! Sora, _come on_, you can't be serious! You just came back. Stay at least a few more days. Riku's been there for three years now…a few more days won't make any difference." She pulled on my arms, trying to bring me back to my senses. But I had made up my mind.

"It makes a difference to me, Kairi. I can't bear the fact knowing that he might be in danger, when we're here all happy and safe."

"But Sora…"

"He was our _friend_, Kairi."

She lowered her head in defeat. I reached out and cupped her face with my hands.

"Look at me, Kairi."

She lifted her head slowly and her teary eyes made me feel very guilty, but I had no choice. Right now Kairi wasn't important. She was safe and well, and that's all that mattered. Right now Riku was the one who was important. I had lost our friendship, and if I ever wanted it back again I would have to go back to Travers Town and find him to see if he was OK. That was the only way I could ever be at peace again. Even if he was alright and had started a new life with new people, at least I would have seen him again and I would have let him know I never knew what happened to his parents…that it never was my intention to lose all contact. Maybe, if I found him…he could forgive me and we could be friends again.

"I have to go and find him. Do you remember when we used to be little and he always used to beat me at everything?"

"Yeah…" A soft smile graced her features as the memories filled her mind.

"How he always used to be the 'better' one and how he always used to take care of us if something was wrong or how he always used to comfort us when we were sad?"

She nodded, and I smiled back at her.

"Well, maybe now it's my turn to take care of him. Kairi, this is my only way in ever regaining his friendship again, you understand? I have to go back, I have no other choice."

A few tears fell down on her cheeks. And I embraced her, petting her head softly as I comforted her.

"I promise, that if I find him, I will let you know immediately. I will never loose contact with any of you again, I mean it!"

I tightened our embrace and Kairi heaved a sigh. We sat silent for a few moments, rocking back and forward softly, lost in our embrace.

"I must tell you something" She said softly, breaking the silence as she breathed on my shoulder.

"Yes?" I answered, not letting go of her.

"I always envied Riku, do you know that?"

I didn't answer, just kept stroking her hair and continued listening to what she had to say.

"I…I used to be in love with you. But whenever Riku was around, you're attention was always on him…"

I remained silent and kept stroking her hair, and she continued talking.

"You always used to have that sparkle in your eyes whenever you looked at him. I wanted you to look at _me_ with that sparkle in your eyes. But no matter what I did or said, you never looked at me the way you looked at him."

She paused for a moment, her breath shaking as she chuckled a little.

"I remember the last week you were on the Islands, we were going to a party. And I had bought a beautiful new dress, I had even put on make-up for the very first time…all in hope you would notice me and look at me in that very special way. But you never did. The entire evening you only had eyes for Riku. It was that night that I realised it wasn't a sparkle of mere admiration, it was more. It was much deeper. And I realised you would never look at me that way. After you left, I almost never spoke to Riku again. I blamed him for your leave, you see?"

Silence.

"Because I was jealous, Sora. Because I was so very jealous of him. I did a horrible thing, Sora…"

I stopped stroking her hair and sat back a little, holding her shoulders with my hands and looked at her with a questioning gaze. She looked down ashamedly at her hands as she played with the hem of her shirt.

"I am the reason why you lost contact."

"What do you mean?" I asked confused.

She began crying, only this time it was for real.

"I…I intercepted both yours and Riku's letters."

"You did _what_?" I was shocked now. She did _what_?

"Whenever Riku received mail I took the letters coming from you out of his mailbox and I intercepted Riku's letters for you in the post office. It wasn't that difficult because most of the time I suggested taking his letters to the post office myself, because I had to go down town, or I had some letters of my own to post. It became an obsession Sora. I began checking his mailbox almost every hour, I was so afraid he'd ever receive a letter from you. I even held back the letter in which he had written about the death of his parents. I wanted _him _to feel unwanted! I wanted _him_ to be in pain! I _hated_ him Sora…I truly hated him. "

I was at a loss of words. What she had done was utterly unforgivable, she had broken our friendship for no reason. I started shaking my head slowly, still not looking away from her eyes.

"Sora…" She reached out to take hold of my arms, but I pushed her away and stood up.

"How could you…" I whispered disbelievingly.

"I'm sorry, I never meant for it to go so far…"

"How could you…" I kept repeating shaking my head in utter disgust.

"I'm really sorry, Sora! I never wanted him to go away…"

"But he did! Didn't he?" I yelled, I didn't care if I'd woken up half of the Island. I didn't care at all. I was mad now, no, 'mad' didn't even come close to describe what I felt, I was _furious_!

"Sora, please don't yell! You'll wake up my parents!"

"To hell with your parents, Kairi! What you did is unforgivable, you know that? I want you to know that I will _never_ forgive you for what you've done…NEVER!" I was glaring at her.

"Sor…"

"Shut up! To think that we have been talking happily all evening as if everything was alright, and _now_ you decide to tell me? I am sad for you, Kairi. I am really sad for you." I picked up my jacket and started putting it on, as she jumped up and forced me to look at her.

"You've got to understand! I felt unwanted, Sora! I've felt unwanted all my life!"

"That's no excuse, Kairi." I said sternly.

"Do you know why I felt unwanted?"

"I don't think I care anymore…" I tried to turn around, but she forced me to look back at her.

"Because all your life, you only wanted _him_!" Tears were streaming violently down her cheeks and I looked wide-eyed at her, unable to say anything. "Yes Sora, you never realised it yourself, but that's what I discovered that very night. That's why you only had that sparkle in your eyes when you looked at him. You _loved_ him Sora…you still do. That's why you came back to the Islands, and that's why you're going back to Traverse Town right now…because you can't live without him."

We were silent for a few moments, and her crying died out. Without saying anything I turned away and started walking toward the front door. Taking hold of the doorknob I turned around casting one last look at a sniffling Kairi. She didn't try to stop me anymore.

"You know, back earlier when you told me his parents had died, I heaved a sigh of relief. Because I thought you were going to say Riku had died. Thanks to you, maybe now he already has." I turned towards the door again, opened it and left without saying a word.

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That was the first chapter! Did you enjoy it? I hope so… So what do you think of Sora? He'll be the one comforting and taking care of Riku in this story. I don't know how soon I will update this fic, it all depends on how much time and inspiration I have. I also can't have the feeling of being forced to write this story within a certain span of time, because then my inspiration will be trackless. But don't worry, I'm totally into this fic! I've got so many ideas I want to import into the story that I'll definitely continue it. And I'm planning on it being a long story, with many chapters. So yeah, patience is a virtue . 

Oh and another thing, as you might have noticed there are soooo many typo's in this story. I've read it and re-read it an uncountable amount of times. But there are always those mistakes you keep reading over. Also English is not my native language. So if anyone is interested, I'm looking for a Beta. You can always contact me by email. Thanks!

Stay tuned!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything. Sad, isn't it?

**Warnings:** See 'Author's Notes' first chapter.

**Author's Notes:** Here's chapter two!

**A/N:**

**_Jenni Sunshine:Jenni Moonlight_** – Thank you very much! Oh, and I'm reading your story 'Sora, the Fallen Angel' and I think it's great. I loooove angels! I will review once I've finished reading all four chapters.

**_luvable 14_** – I'm glad you like it

**_Reina-183 _**– Yeah I know I spelled Traverse Town 'Travers Town' once, but it was a typo. Typed to quickly I think, and missed the fault after re-reading it a couple of times. I saw it immediately after you had pointed it out to me, lol. Thanks for it! And thank you for the nice review.

**_kuramasgirl13 _**- Yes I know it's a little cliché. It's just so hard to stay original in this fandom (or whatever it's called), but we try…we try. I'll try to keep your interests up. Thanks for reviewing!

**_Inumaru12_** – Well a beta is someone who pre-reads your story. They check your story on typo's and spelling errors. And of course you also talk with them, lol. I'm really glad you love my story! Thanks for the review.

**_Melodysmilesalot_** – Well here's the update, a little later as expected, but here it is! Enjoy!

**_hikari-enzeru_** – Continue reading the story, it will give you an answer to all your questions. Thanks for the great review!

Thank you all for your lovely reviews, I appreciate it very much! Oh and I hope I spelled all your pennames right, I always manage to make a mistake here or there, lol. So please don't be mad at me. Now, on to chapter two!

**Riku & Sora**: review!

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**Sora's POV**

'Rain, nice.' I sighed in annoyance. It was late, dark, cold, wet and freezing and not to forget I didn't have any place to stay yet. I yelled for a taxi to stop, but the guy didn't see me and just kept on driving.

"Oh yeah! Just ignore me! I'm _only_ getting absolutely fucking WET!" I yelled after the taxi throwing my arms out in front of me and letting them fall back against my sides again. I sighed in anger and rapidly put my backpack on my back and took up my suitcases. My first priority tonight was to find a hotel. I looked around and saw there weren't many people on the streets anymore. Well what do you expect, it was _only_ 3 o'clock in the morning.

'Soooo, which way to go?' I thought to myself. It wouldn't make much difference I'd find a hotel sooner or later, or so I hoped. I looked in both directions, first left to see a dark rainy street. Then right to see…a dark rainy street. So many possibilities but such a difficult choice. I looked once more in either direction, flicking my head from right to left and from left to right again and after much consideration decided… 'Oh well, left it is then…'

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I had been walking about an hour now, but it felt more like 10 hours or something.

'Djeez, these streets, they all look the same.'

Yup, I admit, I was lost. Seriously lost, actually. So, there weren't that many hotels there, huh? Should have taken the right side!

I started thinking of Riku. 'Where could he be? And what could he be doing right now? Did he have a home? Or…maybe… was he still out here, walking on the streets somewhere? Like me? Man, if he had been here for the past three years, how could he ever have been able to survive it? I've been here for only about a good hour, and I'm already lost. Not that I was ever any good in finding my way somewhere…'

I was freezing. My clothes stung to my body like a second skin, the rain had totally soaked them. My suitcases began to feel rather heavy and my back was killing me. But I had to go on, I had to find somewhere to stay or else I might end up on the streets somewhere.

'Oh no….did Riku end up on the streets?' I frowned in shock '…I hope not…'

"Agh!"

My feet, they were soaking wet! I could not only feel, but also hear the splashy sounds of my feet in my shoes. I really hated having my shoes totally soaked. Well, not only my shoes, but also my socks, pants, jacket, probably even my backpack….at least my suitcases were waterproof.

'Does it ever stop raining!' I was annoyed and bored at the same time. 'I'll never find my way out of here…why hadn't I taken a map back at the airport in the first place. At least I would have been in a nice, comfy, warm hotel right now.' I heaved an exasperated sigh.

'SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!'

"GAH!" I fell on my ass, looking up to see the bumper of a car just a few inches from my head. It's lights were burning my eyes, so I immediately pulled up my hand to shield them from it. I heard someone coming out of the car and walking hurriedly towards me.

"Oh shit! Dude, are you alright?" A soft, worried masculine voice. It sounded nice. I tried to look up at the person but the lights of the car were still stinging my eyes.

"Yeah…" I swallowed, my voice sounded so raspy. Must be from the shock. "I'm fine." I coughed.

The unknown guy had knelt beside me and I had a feeling he was looking me in the eyes.

"Are you sure? I mean don't you feel any pain or anything? I'll bring you to the hospital immediately…"

"No really, I'm fine, don't worry." I smiled up at him. I still didn't see his face clearly, but he looked young, at least his voice sounded young. I guessed he was in his twenties.

"Where do you live? I'll bring you home…it's the least I can do." He offered gently, holding out his hand for me to take it. I didn't say anything, I just let him lead me into his car and sat there silently with my backpack on my lap, recovering from the shock, while he was busy putting my suitcases in the trunk.

It was a nice car, it didn't look expensive, but it was comfy and that's all that mattered. The guy stepped into the car and this was the first time I could take a good look at him. I was right, he was in his twenties, had blond spiky hair, bright blue eyes and a gentle smile. Yup, he looked nice. Not at all the kind of person I'd expected to run into in this part of town. But…this was a mirror image. It had to be! I was sure that if some person clad in white suddenly popped up out of no where, telling me that this guy was an older version of me having colored his hair and traveled back in time…I would have believed it right a way.

"You okay a little?" He was looking at me, and I hadn't noticed. I quickly turned my head away to look at my backpack

"Yes, thank you." Playing with the strips of my backpack, I felt enormously stupid for staring so bluntly at someone without noticing it.

"I'm Cloud by the way." He said casually starting his car.

"Sora" I whispered. I still had difficulty speaking now and then, the shock had really taken it's effect on my vocal cords.

"So, where do you live?" He was putting his car in gear now. There was a short silence in which I was contemplating on what I was about to say, since I had nowhere to go…

"Uhm, well actually, do you know any good hotels in this area?" I looked at him with a glint of hope in my eyes.

"Eh…hotels? Yes. Good ones? No, not at all, no." He answered, kinda…stating me the obvious.

I slumped back in my seat and shivered. I was freezing, and the fact that my clothes were completely soaked wasn't helping at all. Cloud saw it, and turned on the heater.

"Thanks" I smiled thankfully. The warm air felt heavenly. If only I could have been wearing dry and warm clothes then, it would have been _so_ much better.

"You know, if you want you could always stay with me for the night…or well until you've find somewhere else to stay…" He paused for a second and saw I was considering his offer with a slight frown. "…it's only a suggestion, you don't have to feel obliged or anything. But putting you in one of these hotels, would cause me a moral low point and a one – way ticket to hell. Trust me, you really don't wanna be staying there."

"You'd really let me stay with you?" I looked at him, with a thankful gaze.

"Yup, I just suggested it, didn't I?" He smiled. His smile was addicting and before I knew it I was smiling too.

"Wow, thanks! I don't know what to say…" I kept on smiling. Maybe…just maybe, I could find my way down there.

"It's nothing, man. I could use a friend, and you sure look like you could use someone to guide you around this place." He turned his car around and started driving towards the Lower Town city center. About 5 minutes later we arrived at a huge apartment block, and he drove his car down into it's cellar, which served as a parking lot for people who lived there.

"Home, sweet home" He stated happily.

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I was sitting tiredly in the kitchen with a little furry thing on my lap and took my time to take a good look around. The place was very nice and modern, it looked rather expensive. The kitchen was much bigger than average, not to speak of the living room. Last night when we had arrived, I had been very tired but was able to notice that he also had about 3 bedrooms each with it's own little bathroom and I knew this because he told me, a spare room full of junk, a rather large balcony with excellent view and last but not least he had a DOG! I had always loved dogs.

The dog's name was Spike, yeah I admit, the origin of this name is a _total _mystery to me. It was little, it was white and it was extremely furry. I loved it immediately and it loved me back, because it had slept with me the entire night. Or at least the few hours of night there were still left by the time we went to bed. Taking up at least half of the single bed I had tried sleeping in. Don't ask me how, but even that small it's able to take up all of your space. As a result I had been sleeping on my side the entire night because of absolutely cute looking innocent little Spike.

That's why it was now only 9 o'clock in the morning, and I was sitting at the kitchen table with a furry little snoring dog on my lap and a back that screamed 'Do kick that goddamned dog out of your bed next time!'

I was hungry. But I couldn't possibly take anything out of Cloud's fridge without his permission. I didn't even know the guy properly, I had only just met him a few hours before anyway. So I decided to go back to the room he had prepared for me, laid Spike down at the far end of the bed and went to lay down myself…on my back this time. The pain in my back immediately disappeared and I smiled feeling like I could drift into a peaceful dream any moment.

'Scritch' the bed creaked.

Something was moving.

'Scritch, scritch screech, scritch'

Still lying down with my eyes closed, I felt a little wet nose touch the skin of my cheek. Oh no, it was back. The little dog made itself comfortable near my side, eventually stretching itself, pushing it's back against my side so that I, out of pure annoyance, turned myself on my side again.

Stinging pain.

"Oh well life's a bitch" I muttered silently and closed my eyes.

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I woke up to the smell of some nice bacon and eggs. My stomach must have smelled it as well, because it gave a loud rumble and I remembered I was actually very hungry. Turning around lazily, I let myself fall on my back and opened my drowsy eyes to look up at the ceiling.

"Eh?" I patted my hands around to feel the empty parts of mattress beside me and stretched my leg's to feel around with my feet, but realized there was no dog anymore. I sat up quickly and looked around, yup the bed was dog-free. Sighing happily I let myself fall down on the bed again, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and stretched all my limbs.

'Hmmm, smells nice…' I could here some music coming from the hallway and the splitter and splatter of crispy bacon and eggs that were being baked in a pan. I looked in the direction of the door which was standing ajar.

'Better get up…' I thought.

I stretched myself once more and lifted myself up to sit on the edge of the bed. I had no idea how late it was, since I had no clock in the room whatsoever and I was to lazy too go take my watch, which was lying on the table in the kitchen by the way.

Yawning and scratching my back a little, I walked shakily over towards my suitcases. My legs hadn't fully woken up yet, still tingling as I tried to take normal steps. I took out some fresh underwear, a faded jeans and a black T-shirt with a silver colored imprint in the form of some Chinese characters on it. I then walked over towards the little bathroom, brushed my teeth, took a shower, combed my wild hair and put on some deodorant.

I inspected myself in the mirror and realized there was something missing.

'Of course! My necklace!' My masterly piece of silver. Couldn't go anywhere without it. I went over to my nightstand on which my crown – shaped necklace lay, picked it up and put it on.

"There, finished." I said contently, beaming at myself in the mirror. I wasn't a 'neat-freak' in the sense of the word, but I was concerned about how I looked. So checking myself in the mirror so often each morning, had become kind of a ritual.

I arrived in the kitchen a few moments later and went to sit down at the table, looking at Cloud who was now baking some pancakes.

"Good morning!" He spoke happily in a sing – song voice, casting his head over his shoulder to take a look at me and smiled.

"Good morning." I smiled back, stretching my arms in the air. "Wow, you're kind of a cooking princess…" I looked at the food already standing on the table. There were bacon and eggs, toasts, some different kinds of cereals, pancakes, bread, several kinds of filling, orange juice, coffee and milk. It looked absolutely edible and my stomach gave another load roar.

"And you're kind of _hungry_." Cloud answered playfully as he turned around with the pan in his hand, putting another freshly baked pancake on top of the others. The aroma filled my nostrils and I reached out to take one. "I just didn't know what you liked, so I decided to try a few different things. See what you liked best, you know?"

"Well that wasn't necessary at all, I like all of the stuff standing on this table." I spoke through mouths full of pancake and poured myself a warm cup of coffee. "Hmmm, tastes good, Cloud!"

"Thanks, I normally don't cook this much, you know. I'm glad you like it." He had rinsed the pan under the tap and had put it in the sink to clean it later. The cooking area looked absolutely spotless and clean. He then sat down on the table in the chair opposite of me and started getting himself some food as well.

"Did you sleep good?" He asked as he too, poured himself some coffee.

"Well, it could have been better."

"Hehe, Spike kept you up?" He chuckled amused, not looking up from his toast as he was to busy putting jam on it.

"Kinda…"

"Thank you Sora, thanks to you I've had my first painless sleep in two years. Do stay." He joked as he took a bite from his toast and locked his smiling eyes on mine.

I laughed openly and grabbed myself some bacon and eggs and a piece of toast.

"So, Cloud, you've got a really nice looking place here. What do you do for a living?" I cast him an interesting glance and continued eating.

"I work in a little restaurant-café kinda thing."

"You a cook? Waiter? Or…"

"Nah, I dance." He said matter of factly and stopped eating. I noticed he was looking at me to see my reaction. And I was staring but it immediately sank through to me.

"Ah – ooooooooh…" I said, clearly pointing out I had understood it. "You're an exotic dancer?"

"Yes, it's not one of the most to – be – proud – at jobs, but it pays good. Besides little Spike deserves it." He finished grinning patting the passing little dog on the head and continued eating.

"So uhm, what kind of bar is it then, uhm….gay?" I didn't want to sound nervous, but I did.

"No, it's a bi – orientated bar. So there's women _and_ men dancing there." He paused and saw I was shifting my weight a little as a result of being nervous. "Well, now that you're going to stay with me after all, I think you should know."

I looked at him frowning, but already had my suspicions about what this thing that I _should know_, was going to be.

"I'm gay."

Silence. _No_ way. My eyes were as wide as two coconuts and I was doing it…again. . I had a serious staring – problem. Maybe should make a doctor's appointment about it or something.

"But don't worry, I'm not looking for a boyfriend so I'm not going to molest you or anything." He was just joking, but I had a really hard time relaxing.

"Aaah, ehehehe…" I laughed nervously, scratching the back of my head as I blushed a little.

"Besides, you're not my type."

My eyes were the size of four coconuts now and I unintentionally pouted.

"Not that I don't think you're cute or anything…"

My eyes were about to pop

"…it's just, I like my guys to be _older_." He indicated 'older' with his fingers. And I laughed, totally at ease again. My eyes had returned to their normal state.

"So, what about you Sora? You gay? Straight?" Well he was kind of direct, wasn't he?

"Well…" I started, hesitating a little. "I think we all start out as bi, since you'll never know which way you'll eventually swing. I mean, look at all those supposedly happily married couples. And then suddenly after ten years, one of them turns out to be gay. I think it's rather imprudent calling yourself 100 gay or straight, because before you know it…you might hurt someone you love." I said, slouching backwards casually in my seat so that I was partly lying as I chewed on the last piece of my toast.

"I like your train of thought, Sora." Cloud smiled. "You know, I had a girlfriend once, and I really loved her. But then suddenly one day, I ended up with my best friend in the world, stealing her from me. It hurt, because I had by then only recently realized that I was madly in love with him and not with my girlfriend."

"Ouch…" I stated giving him a look of pain and compassion. He was silent for a moment, painful memories clouding his eyes.

"Life goes on." He smiled and his expression changed into it's normal happy looking state again as he finished eating the last bit of his pancake. "So, Sora, what are you doing here actually?"

Oh no, here it was. I was going to have to explain myself, and he'd probably declare me insane or something.

"Well, actually I'm here to visit an old friend." There. It wasn't a lie…wasn't the goddamned truth either, but he didn't know.

"Oh, so uhm….where does he live?" He got up from his seat and started cleaning his plate. "You done with that?" He asked out of nowhere, pointing towards my plate as I was still thinking about his primary question.

"Uh…yeah, yeah I'm done." I said blinking my eyes and shaking my head a little, trying to think straight.

"So, where does he live?" He was now putting our plates in the sink.

"I don't know…" I put my hands on the table and pushed myself up from my seat. "Say, can I help you with anything?" I asked looking around at the still almost entirely with food filled table.

"Yeah sure, you can start putting all the food back into the fridge, and the leftovers and rubbish in the trashcan." He instructed me as he turned around and pointed at the overloaded table, then turned around again and continued cleaning the dishes.

"What's his name? Maybe I know him." He was now furiously brushing the dirty dishes with a sponge, which was a funny sight actually…seeing all the bubbles fly around him, flying in his face even, tickling him. And then seeing him, in response, try to rub his face free from the tickles, using the upper part of his right arm, smudging some of the soapy water on his face. Which made him even more irritated.

"Riku." I was holding up a little plate with some inedible leftovers and was now looking for the untraceable trashcan. "So where's the trashcan exactly?"

"It's near the door on the left, beneath that little table."

"The one with the pile of magazines on top of it?"

"Yes, that one."

When I finished throwing away the leftovers, I started ridden the table of the still edible food, putting it away in the fridge.

"Riku, eh?"

I nodded in response, but knew he wasn't watching. So I gave a little hum to go with it.

"Don't think I've heard of him." He sighed in contentment. "There. Done, finito." He took a towel and started drying his hands off. I, by now, had already rid the table of all it's inhabitants, and was now rubbing it clean with a damp rag.

"Never expected you to know him anyway. Hell, I don't even know him myself anymore." I flopped down in one of the chairs, closed my eyes and started massaging my temples with my hands, trying to think. Thinking seemed to be so difficult for me lately.

"What do you mean? He was your friend, right? Because that's what you just told me." Cloud sounded concerned and when I opened my eyes to look at him, I saw that he actually was. He came to site in one of the chairs as well.

"Yes of course. It's just…I haven't seen him or heard anything of him for almost six years now, and I'm really starting to get worried." I paused for a moment, almost pushing holes in my temples.

"You want something to drink?" Man, he was really concerned, wasn't he?

"Yes that would be great."

A few moments later we were both sitting in the living room, each holding a cup of hot steaming chocolate milk, a few muffins to got with it and the TV put on softly, providing us with some background music.

"Why do you think that out of all places, he's here?"

"You know Cloud, I think I should tell you something about me first. I'm originally from Destiny Islands, you know them?"

"Yes, sure, I know them. They're practically in every vacation brochure you come across. Beautiful place though, well beautiful pictures at least." He said taking another sip of his hot chocolate.

"Yes indeed they are. But about six years ago my parents decided to move to Traverse Town, Upper Town that is. They wanted me to break contact with all my friends from the Islands. Said it would be better to make new friends here, since this was going to be the place where I would be staying the rest of my life." I took a moment to bite a piece out of the muffin I had been holding for a while now.

"But that wasn't what you were planning to do, was it?" Cloud asked, narrowing his eyes a little.

"Of course not! How could they even _think_ I would let them do that to me. I continued writing letters to Riku and my other friends, but over time writing letters disappeared. It was painful in the beginning, but I adapted to it quite quickly. Besides I was very busy with my studies anyway. I'm a cook, by the way."

"Aah, cooking school? Nice. My parents tried to get me into one too, but they didn't have enough money for it." He said shrugging and took himself a muffin as well.

"I'm sorry for you. They shouldn't exclude people from educations because they're 'not rich enough'. I hate that. Anyone should have the right to get a decent education and learn a profession or something."

"Right there with ya." We both smiled.

"During my studies I had been doing various little jobs to collect some money. Money which I would use to go back to Destiny Islands, meet Riku again and start a little restaurant. My parents couldn't stop me, this was my choice. And that's exactly what I did. A little less then 24 hours ago, I was standing on the docks of the ferry – station of the Islands. Life couldn't be happier for me, until..." I closed my eyes for a second, remembering Kairi's horrible confession.

"Until what?" Cloud was looking at me as if I was telling him an episode of his favorite soap opera that he had missed. You know, eyes wide, holding his cup in front of his chin with both of his hands, taking an absent-minded sip every now and then.

"Until I went to Riku's house. It was abandoned…" I was suddenly interrupted by a little fur ball jumping on my lap, trying to steal away the last piece of the muffin I was eating.

"Spike, get down!" Cloud ordered, laughing as he did. Little Spike looked at him with those big, innocent puppy – dog – eyes, tail between his legs and if he could, he would have pouted as well. I couldn't stand it anymore, I gave him the muffin.

"You spoil him Sora." Cloud chuckled. "That's a criminal master mind in there. He knows, that when he does that, we'll have _no other choice_ but to give in to him. Criminal mastermind, I tell you. Please continue'." Cloud said glaring at his little dog, but failing at it completely.

"Yes well, I decided to visit another old friend of mine. All seemed to be working out just fine between us, until she started mentioning Riku. She told me a horrible truth. Thanks to her, Riku and I had lost contact. I also came to hear that Riku's parents had died about three years ago, that he had tried to contact me by writing me a letter. But that bitch had prevented it from ever reaching me. So I never showed up on his parents funeral, simply because I didn't know they were dead."

"What was that person's problem?" Cloud asked unbelievingly.

"She was jealous of us. Jealous of how Riku and I had always been the better friends, and that that little friendship – circle didn't include her. She hated him, because I liked him better than her. That's why she wanted to hurt him, she said, but also me. She hurt me as well."

"But why then do you think Riku should be somewhere down here?"

"Well, she told me that the banks were going to confiscate his entire house and everything in it, because his parents had a very large financial debt with them. He went to her for solace, but apparently she never gave it to him. So he wrote her a letter telling her he would be off to another place where he could start a new life and where he would go search for someone."

"So you figured he would come to search for you?" Cloud asked, rubbing little Spike over his tummy.

"Yes, well, no, not immediately. But Kairi thought that that might be most likely, since we were best friends. But I knew he couldn't possible be in Upper Town, I know that place by heart. I've never seen him once, in those three years he left Destiny Islands, not once. So, my only guess is, that he's down here somewhere…"

"In Lower Town." Cloud finished my sentence for me. "Hmm, makes sense."

"So you think he could be?" I looked at him with a frown.

"Well, as I've said before, I don't now him and I haven't seen him anywhere. But that doesn't mean he couldn't be here, there are so many places he could be."

"Yes, true." I dropped my shoulders looking at the empty cup I was still holding in my hands.

"Do you have a picture of him?"

"Yes! Yes, now that you mention it. Wait here." I jumped up and put my cup on the table in front of the couch. Then sprinted to my room, took my wallet and made my way back to the living room as fast as I could.

"I've always had this picture of the both of us. It was taken on the day me and my parents left the Islands." I explained casually and handed the picture over to Cloud. "See? I was fourteen and he was fifteen." I indicated, pointing at me first and then at Riku.

It was a nice picture. It was taken by Kairi in the late afternoon. Both me and Riku were standing next to each other on the beach, Riku's arm draped casually over my shoulder, me sticking up two fingers behind his head, and both of us grinning like idiots. It seemed like a photo of two friends having the time of their lives, though we weren't having that at all. I was leaving behind my best friend.

"He looks cute. So what's he now, 21? Right? He should be a total _hot_ dude by now!" Cloud wiggled his eyebrows at me and I laughed in return.

"Don't you even think it!" I said harshly, but was actually joking. "Besides, I don't even think he's gay…" I fluttered my eyes at Cloud, wanting to show my conversational intellectualness.

"Ah, but not so long ago you very convincingly claimed that we all start out as bi." He pointed out matter of factly.

"Oh…" There went my pride. I didn't know what to say, seemed like I talked myself into a serious embarrassing dilemma there. "Aaah, well you know…" I gave Cloud a cheesy grin and slumped down a little more in the couch.

We both had a good laugh but after a few minutes the silence returned again. Leaving the both of us lost in our own little world of troubles.

"So, you wanna go search for him?" He suddenly asked.

"Yes." A short, but firm answer.

"Then I'm coming with you. I know this place pretty good and I'm having a few days off of work anyway." He was about to lift himself out of the couch but I stopped him.

"You will come with me?" No, this couldn't be real. If it was, then wow…just _wow_!

"Well, yes! Shit Sora, like you could ever find you're way out there on your own. Come _on_! You got yourself lost in less than an hour yesterday." He shook his head a little.

"True." I turned my head towards the large window on the right. It had an excellent view, the window actually reached from the ceiling to the floor, in other words it was _huge_! And beautiful. In fact, the entire apartment was beautiful. I wouldn't mind living here the rest of my life. Ok, maybe that's overdoing it a little.

"So, get your ass out of the couch, put on some decent shoes and get yourself ready. I'm planning on leaving this dump in abooooout…" He lifted his wrist up chest high to take a good look at his watch. "…5 minutes." He then gave me a toothy grin.

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I was listening to the soft tunes coming out of the radio as I almost fell asleep because of the constant throbbing of the car engine. We had been searching for 8 hours, going to all sorts of places, asking all sorts of people and even showing most of them my photograph…but nothing. Nothing at all, now one seemed to know him. It was about 11 pm now and I was tired.. Cloud sat beside me, driving. But no doubt he was tired as well, because I saw him trying to stifle a yawn every now and then.

I felt not only tired but also extremely sad. I had let Riku down…and I'd let myself down. Maybe Riku wasn't here at all, maybe Kairi had lied about it as well. She didn't have the letter anymore, did she? So, maybe…he had died together with his parents in the car crash after all. I gave a slight growl and tried to bury my head in my shirt.

"I'm sorry, Sora. We can continue searching tomorrow if you want…" Cloud was being concerned again. I really started to like Cloud, in this little time I knew him he had already done so much for me. He really deserved his spot in heaven. He was one of those barely existing few charitable people still out there.

"Don't be sorry, Cloud. Maybe it's just my mistake, maybe he's not here at all. I don't know why I was so overly positive about the fact that he should be here in the first place, I really don't know. So don't worry ok?" I tried giving him a smile, but that proved to be rather difficult because I was feeling really depressed right now. But Cloud didn't seem to mind, he just patted my shoulder with his right hand and gave me a look of sincere care.

We had been driving for another 10 minutes in silence now. Both listening to the soft music coming out of the radio. I was trying to enjoy this ride as much as possible, until suddenly I had this strange feeling. The feeling told me to get out of the care immediately. It was _forcing_ me to get out of the car. The feeling was growing stronger. I had to get out of the car. I had to get out of it…I had to…NOW!

"Stop the car!" I yelled, and started unbuckling myself as Cloud, totally startled, tried his best to get the car to a full stop without endangering anyone.

"What the hell's wrong, Sora?" Cloud was seriously startled, to the point of becoming a little mad even.

"I don't know, I just…" I opened the door and got out. This was the first time I noticed where we actually were. A dark, gloomy, dangerous looking street. A kind of street where they do dark things, you know, like drugs or prostitution or…maybe even kill someone. I felt a shiver go through my spine. But I didn't care, I had to go forward, something was telling me to go forward…something was….

"Sora! No, come back! This is a very dangerous area!" I heard Cloud yell after me, but I didn't turn back. I expected him to yell at me again, but instead I heard him come out of the car as well and within a few seconds I heard his steady footsteps behind me. Following me straight into the darkness.

It was a narrow little alley between two large buildings. There were a few garbage cans standing here and there, and I even heard cat.

'Scrrritch'

"Sora, what was that?" Cloud was now standing beside me, trying to figure out where that noise had come from.

"I stepped on something. I think it broke. I can't see what it is though, it's too dark!"

"Wait…here." And with a little click there was light. Man he was prepared, wasn't he? He even had a little flashlight in one of the pockets of his jacket. He pointed the light towards the ground and there lay the shards of what seemed to have been something made out of plastic. I was lowering myself to inspect it a little closer but Cloud stopped me, holding my shoulder with one of his hands.

"Don't Sora, it's a needle, used for drugs."

"Oh…" I stepped away from it.

"Look…" Cloud said as he cast the light a little further over the ground. There were needles and all kinds of dirty rubbish everywhere in this little alley.

"Oh my God, this is disgusting…" I said, snorting a little in disgust.

We were about to turn away, when suddenly we heard a noise. It was a cry, a cry of someone in danger. We immediately started running further into the alley, we had to help this person. It was our civil duty: _never_ leave someone in danger helpless. The further we ran, the louder the cries became. There were also some other noises like things being clashed together and stuff falling to the ground.

And there, between a few large trashcans was the source of all this noise. Two people, probably drug addicts, arguing and fighting. They hadn't noticed us yet, and I was about to get even closer when Cloud held me back.

"Sora, I don't think you want to see this." He shook his head a little, trying to stop me from getting myself into some serious trouble. And I was about to give into him when suddenly…

"…Riku!"

The name, yelled by one of the two strangers, echoed through the little alley, my eyes widened and I felt Cloud's grip on my shoulder tighten.

* * *

I'm really sorry for this late update…I had planned on updating much sooner, because I just couldn't stop writing, I had inspiration to spare! But sadly enough, Friday I had become very sick. I had a tranchea inflammation (or whatever you call it) and very high fever. I've only been recovering since yesterday, so I wasn't in the mood to continue writing my story…I wasn't in the mood for anything, lol. So, my apologies. 

Anyway, I hope you liked it! I will do my best to update as soon as possible.

Stay tuned!


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